Do You Appreciate Your Strengths and The Value You Provide Others?
Posted on March 07, 2018 by Carter Leffen, One of Thousands of Executive Coaches on Noomii.
Embracing your strengths and the value you provide your clients may lead to increased motivation and job satisfaction.
Last week I had the pleasure to work with Sam (not his real name), who’s a client of mine. Sam was going through a rough time in his career as a real-estate agent here in the Big Apple. He felt like he wasn’t providing any value to his client’s and wasn’t excited or happy with his career.
Sam comes to me because I ask him questions that make him think. I knew he had taken the CliftonStrengths Assessment in the past, so I asked him what his Top Five were. He had taken the test a few years ago, read some of the descriptions of the strengths, and then forgot about it.
With his Top Five in hand, I gave him an in-depth look at what each strength meant and how they worked together. I then asked him his opinion of them. His response was nothing but negativity. Sam didn’t appreciate his strengths, and he grew up in a community that didn’t value them either. They viewed them as weaknesses, so he, in turn, did too. To break Sam out of this negative mindset, I asked him to tell me three positive things related to each strength. Sam was beginning to see them as positives but was still on the fence about how he’d use them.
I then asked him to brainstorm all the ways he provided value to his clients. Over the course of 30 minutes, I listened as Sam recounted the times and situations he helped his clients. His level of enthusiasm for his career was showing up over the phone. I asked him to now craft ‘I provide value by’ statements. As I listened to him, I could hear his tone of voice change from one of lack of motivation to excitement and optimism. This feeling grew for him as he repeated these statements.
Finally, I asked him to match his Top Five strengths to these statements. To Sam’s delight, he learned he could use one or more strengths in an ‘I provide value’ statement. In less than two hours, Sam’s outlook towards himself and his profession shifted completely.
What can we learn from this? Sam’s mindset shifted in regards to how he saw himself and how he provided value in his career. Your thoughts can either make us or break us. Do you feel like your thoughts are holding you back? If so, I’d love to help you achieve that breakthrough in your life. Contact Me to Schedule a Free Sample Session Today.
